Chapter 10: The Finale of Book one… I think…

          “What??!” the two supreme beings yelled out in unison.

          Ainz had just gotten back from the outside world, and Aeskell had just come back from being Maelidel. Ainz was rather confused when he heard from Albedo that Aeskell had a different personality. But other than being rather confused, he was more concerned with the news that another person was living inside of his friend.

          Aeskell herself had just shoved Ninya onto Yuri Alpha. Right after that, she and Ainz had been brought to the meeting room where most business with the tomb was discussed with the two smartest beings in the tomb, Demiurge and Albedo.

          Aeskell had just asked Demiurge to integrate Ninya into Sebas’s group and he had agreed to carry out the order that had been worded like a request. Then, after all of that, Ainz and Aeskell had been told that Shalltear had betrayed them.

          “Albedo, I don’t like this joke you’re pulling,” Ainz Cautioned with a hint of anger in his voice.

          He didn’t really like the idea of this happening; he really didn’t. In all honesty, the only one of the supreme beings who didn’t think this was a stupid prank was Aeskell. Aeskell knew, of course, that there were world items that could make it past the natural defenses of an undead.

          The two other entities in the room were somewhat frightened of the mild in Ainz’s voice and tone. But they were rather happy that their words were being accepted by the other supreme being in the room.

          Even though Albedo disliked Aeskell for the soul reason that she was a woman that was close to Ainz, she liked that she took her seriously. Even when she learned that Aeskell had been accepted into the guild when she looked at the admin interface that let her interact with the tomb, she still liked this somewhat serious side of the new supreme being.

          Aeskell then looked to Ainz and sighed in mild annoyance. She knew that Albedo was perfectly serious. Her body language and the beat of her heart indicated as much.

          “Ainz, she is being perfectly serious. Shalltear has betrayed us in some sort of way,” Aeskell said and turned to Albedo, “Albedo do you know why she betrayed us?” she asked.

          Albedo shook her head. She herself felt like the question was worthless. But it had been asked so she answered to the best of her abilities.

          “No, we do not, my lady. It seems like she just up and rebelled against us. I haven’t the faintest idea why a servant of the supreme ones would want this,” Albedo said with a deep scowl on her face.

          Ainz and Aeskell nodded at this. Ainz was busy in his own mind to actually understand or in the current conversation, and Aeskell was wrapped up in her own mind on what they should do next.

          It was obvious that they needed to make sure that Shalltear was actually rebelling of her own free will, or if she wasn’t even rebelling and instead had been stolen or brainwashed.

          Last Aeskell had heard of her, she was catching, or rather trying to catch, people with martial arts. She hadn’t even been that far away from the city at all even. Maybe a day’s walk to the current local from the city to where she was.

          “We should go to her last known location and make sure she hasn’t been brainwashed or anything of the sort. If she has done so out of her won free will, then we will have a problem on our hands,” Ainz spoke up with worry and a solemn conviction in his voice.

          The whole idea of the NPCs rebelling of their own free will was hitting Aeskell and Ainz’s minds harder than they liked to admit. Also, the whole idea of them doing so reminded Aeskell of the look on Albedo’s face when Ainz had changed his name.

          She would need to talk about this now that the whole idea of the NPC’s free will was on hand and in everyone’s mind. She sucked in a deep breath and sighed it out. this talk was going to be hard. Especially hard since Aeskell was noticing something about herself that she would have panicked about earlier in this new life.

          “OK, Ainz can you and Demiurge leave the room for a minute while I talk to Albedo about something? It probably will be rather important and take a while. But it needs to be discussed with her and I want it to be private,” she asked of the two men, and they obliged of course.

          Once they left the room, Askell looked at the rather still frustrated Albedo. She was still somewhat mad at the whole new fiasco that was this Shalltear situation. But she calmed down after realizing what this talk would be about.

          Albedo had of course guessed it when she had heard that it would be in private. But she was still peeved about the new development.

          Aeskell leaned forward and stared deep into the succubus’s eyes. In her eyes she saw a deep and unsettled frustration. She wanted to make sure that it didn’t consume her. After all, a house dived cannot stand. She took yet another deep breath and spoke.

          “Albedo, everyone knows you love Ainz, but what does the name Ainz Ooal Gown mean to you?” she asked rather smoothly.

          “Do you mean the guild, or the one I love?” she retorted with a bit of venom.

          “Both,” Aeskell responded without a second thought.

          Albedo retreated a bit. She didn’t expect the fire in the new supreme one’s eyes to burn so bright. But once she thought about it, it made sense. She had apparently been kicked out of her old guild over differences of opinions.

          The guardian overseer decided to answer the question truthfully. The fire in Aeskell’s eyes didn’t only seem to burn for herself, but seemed to burn and cast a light into the gaze she was pushing.

          The best way to describe it was as if a child was being reprimanded by their parent. But instead of anger, the parent looked on at the child with disappointment. That line of thought simply made the woman mad at the fact that her own creator wasn’t here.

          “I love Lord Ainz, but… I hate the guild…” she started off slowly, “I… the rest of the supreme beings left us, including my own creator. But Lord Mo- Ainz stayed behind,” she finished the train of thought out loud.

          Aeskell nodded her own head, “you were going to call Ainz Momonga, weren’t you?” she asked the other woman.

          Albedo was about to speak when Aeskell interrupted her.

          “You can call Ainz Momonga in this conversation. In fact, I bet he would let you call him Momonga if you told him that you hate the name Ainz Ooal Gown. After all, if they abandoned you, and trust me I know what that feels like, then you can call them bastards if you want in this conversation. Though, Momonga wouldn’t really like it if you called them that,” she finished with a bit of a smirk.

          Albedo smirked as well, it seemed that she was warming up to the woman in front of her, that was good. It meant what she was about to explain was easier to swallow.

          “Albedo, I don’t think this rage you feel for them is good for you. I also understand why they left, or at least with the information that Momonga has given me. It will be hard to swallow this, so take it a bit at a time,” she started to say.

          Albedo formed a frown on her face. She didn’t like being told she was wrong by Aeskell. But if she had been given information by lord Momonga then it would shift her whole worldview. She understood why Aeskell was talking to her like this now.

          “The others in the guild left because they viewed the world of Yggdrasil as nothing more than a game. In a sense, they were right,” she explained, and Albedo could feel a tad bit of confusion on her face form.

          “There is of course more than one world. Yggdrasil and this one, whatever the actual name is. But there is also another,” she said, and Albedo could feel that her mind was started to slow down a bit more than normal.

          “The original world, the one where humanity itself came from. This world has been called many things. At first it was named Terra, then Gaia, finally Earth. On Earth, there is no magic, no Kings, and no gods. Earth used to be a beautiful world,” Aeskell looked down finally and sucked in a deep breath.

          Albedo wanted to ask a question, but her mind was starting to piece it all together. Finally, after a minute of thinking, Aeskell spoke up once more.

          “Earth is a dying world. There are no other races other than mankind, and they kind of killed everything that wasn’t related to them in a rather cataclysmic war. To escape this dying fate, if only temporarily, they made worlds that acted like their games of their past,” she explained and Albedo’s eyes widened.

          “So… Yggdrasil was one of these artificial worlds?” Albedo finally asked.

          “Yes,” was Aeskell’s only reply.

          The room was silent for a couple of minutes after that. It was almost like the sound had stopped at all. Then, after that silent room had basically become soundless.

          “Yggdrasil was an old world, at least in the eyes of the people of earth. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as old as the planet it was born from. The start of the reason for the people that were a part of the guild was simply because other and newer worlds were made,” she told the succubus.

          “But, Momonga never left of course. From what he has told me, Yggdrasil might just have been the original world to him. Then, from what I’ve been told, the person Bellriver was killed on earth. This made the people behind the avatars that were the other players of Ainz Ooal Gown nervous and angry,” she said.

          Albedo half knew this. She of course had seen many different supreme beings discuss this in the throne room. She now had context for the all the yelling and screaming and name calling.

          “I remember the rest of this. After lord Bellriver died, Lord Ulbert Alian Odle and Lord Touch me got into many more disagreements and left. Then soon after all the others left,” Albedo said with a bit of rage igniting, “so they simply left my beloved when one of the supreme ones was slain! When my Beloved was in emotional derris!”

          She seemed to be taking the fact that Momonga used to be human rather well. But now that she was getting angry, Aeskell needed her to calm down.

          “Albedo! That was in the past, this is the now! Momonga needs you to be calm,” Aeskell told the guardian overseer.

          At that order, Albedo looked at the newest member of the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown. All she saw in the eyes of the other was sadness and sympathy. It was stark to the look she had before.

          “Albedo, Momonga needs someone who he can lean on when emotions run too high. When he lingers in the past too much, when he needs someone to love. I can’t be that shoulder. You can though,” she simply stated with power.

          Albedo, for the first time since she was made by her creator, was thoughtless. She didn’t know what to do.

          “Be his shield…” Aeskell resolutely said.

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